Conservative Daily News » Greecehttp://www.conservativedailynews.com
The best conservative political news, analysis and opinionSun, 02 Aug 2015 23:41:06 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3NO DEAL: EU Leaders want more from Greece before deciding fatehttp://www.conservativedailynews.com/2015/07/no-deal-eu-leaders-want-more-from-greece-before-deciding-fate/
http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2015/07/no-deal-eu-leaders-want-more-from-greece-before-deciding-fate/#commentsSun, 12 Jul 2015 13:07:31 +0000http://www.conservativedailynews.com/?p=112670European leaders cancelled a summit meeting that was to be held Sunday to either discuss a deal to save Greece’s spot in the EU or to push it out of the union.

Sunday was to be the final, final, final last deadline for Greece to either submit an acceptable proposal for a bail-out or to be cast-off from the European union. It appears that deadline is not really all that final, but the way forward for Greece is still a bit fuzzy.

Finland’s Prime Minister Juha Sipila explained that Greece didn’t come with enough of a plan: “proposals made by the Greek government on reforms it plans to undertake in return for a third bailout are not adequate as a starting point for negotiations with international creditors.”

Italian Finance Minister Pier Padoan said that trust was the main obstacle to getting a deal done and that he “would like to see the Greek government to take concrete actions tomorrow in parliament to implement measures that are needed for Greece in the first place and then to rebuild trust and therefore allow concrete negotiations to move forward.”

Most likely, Greece will be required to get a preliminary set of austerity measures passed in its own parliament to show good faith to the EU ministers. That will trigger the next phase of bail-out talks where assistance to Greek’s liquidity-starved banks will be discussed.

Because Greece has failed to do much of anything to restructure its failed fiscal policies, EU leaders require more than promises to move forward. This puts Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in the uncomfortable spot of begging his own anti-austerity party to pass austerity legislation despite a popular referendum vote that said the people didn’t want austerity either.

If Tsipras can’t get something through Greek parliament early in the week, Greece’s exit from the Euro may be quickly coming.

]]>http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2015/07/no-deal-eu-leaders-want-more-from-greece-before-deciding-fate/feed/0Greece is given lifeline, but Sunday could be the endhttp://www.conservativedailynews.com/2015/07/greece-is-given-lifeline-but-sunday-could-be-the-end/
http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2015/07/greece-is-given-lifeline-but-sunday-could-be-the-end/#commentsWed, 08 Jul 2015 06:50:02 +0000http://www.conservativedailynews.com/?p=112465Greek ministers met with the EU, ECB and IMF leaders on Tuesday. The meeting resulted in a short-term loan to keep their banks afloat, but only until Sunday.

Greece’s banks had almost completely run out of money. To help Greece survive until the meeting on Sunday, the European Central Bank (ECB) offered a small run of liquidity to Greek banks in trade for increased assets as collateral. Euros just got more expensive for Greece.

European leadership expected Greek Priminister Alexis Tsipris and his new finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos to come with a plan to begin fixing the internals of the Greek economy. The pair instead showed up to the emergency meeting with an already rejected proposal which angered EU ministers.

After the failed meeting, European Council President Donald Tusk showed frustration. “Until now I have avoided talking about deadlines,” Tusk, told reporters. “But tonight I have to say it loud and clear — the final deadline ends this week.”

The current timeline set by European leaders is that Greece must submit a serious proposal by Thursday to be considered by a full meeting of all 28 EU leaders on Sunday. If there is no deal on Sunday, Greece’s exit from the European Union and the Euro may follow within days.

Socialism, as Lenin taught, is the pathway to communism, but the two are distinct.

Both decry private ownership of property. Socialism puts command of industry in the hands of the government while communism gives ownership to the people (kind of.)

Both result in lower production as no single worker sees the benefit of his work. Putting in extra hours does not help him feed his family or protect his friends and putting in minimal effort offers no penalty.

The Greek government has thrown up trial balloons on options such as nationalizing their banks (government ownership), printing their own copies of the Euro and have recently turned to Moscow for guidance.

The Greek government upped the stakes further by revealing that the Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, had telephoned the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, to discuss the consequences of the referendum in which Greeks voted by 61 per cent to 39 per cent to reject the EU’s previous austerity demands.

So whether Greece is going full on socialist remains to be seen. But as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said, “the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” And the Greeks are quickly running out of euros.

]]>http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2015/07/will-greece-turn-to-outright-socialism/feed/0Disrespect for Property at Heart of Global Debt Crisishttp://www.conservativedailynews.com/2015/07/disrespect-for-property-at-heart-of-global-debt-crisis/
http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2015/07/disrespect-for-property-at-heart-of-global-debt-crisis/#commentsMon, 06 Jul 2015 17:08:34 +0000http://www.conservativedailynews.com/?p=112430In the aftermath of Greek voters’ overwhelming rejection of a deal with the European Central Bank, many options are being discussed to prevent the much discussed Grexit.

Demonstrating that nothing is absolute in politics, especially when money is concerned, approximately a month will transpire before the actual repercussions of the vote are known, as European leaders must meet and discuss what they will do.

Lost in the global politicking is any sense of respect for private property, which money embodies.

Currency is a material expression of ownership. By standardizing worth, money helps protect private property. It engenders respect for personal liberty. For, if one person owns something, their own rights are more likely to inspire considerate treatment for others.

But the prevailing societal attitudes, both by private citizens, bankers and politicians, has ignored the philosophy at the root of currency valuation.

The possibility that Greece may institute a “haircut”- a government seizure of a percentage of deposits over a certain amount- in order to finance a new currency shows a blatant disregard for money. Greek’s collective tantrum over austerity measures shows they also do not value the currency they borrowed. And the banking officials whose easy money policies have contributed to the debt crisis sweeping the world certainly also lack this basic respect.

But this attitude also transcends the eurozone. The United States has engaged in reckless control of its markets through virtually limitless quantitative easing and by forcing irresponsible lending practices upon banks. As a result, prices have necessarily skyrocketed.

And this means people’s purchasing power shrinks. Exponentially increasing government expenditures are accompanied by endless taxation, which draws down the amount of resources individuals can use for their own needs. Their purchasing power—and unlimited ability to pursue business or creative enterprises—is directly impeded in proportion to the percentage of assets appropriated.

This is an exponential cycle, for the more taxes government takes, the more programs it creates and the more revenue it needs from its citizens and from foreign banking powers.

The only end to this is a reaffirmation of money’s root. Too often it is seen as either a bogeyman for the duplicitous oligarchs of finance and politics, or merely as a means to an end, which can be manipulated without regard to consequence.

But, money is neither good nor evil. It is a tool by which property can be traded. It is the material expression of property. And, as such, it is the fountainhead of personal liberty.

It must be safeguarded, like any other liberty, against public and private institutions that would seek to appropriate it for their own power.

Greece is the inevitable end result of complacency in the face of such machinations. The scrambling to prevent the collapse is as much self-interest as empathy. The consequence-free easy money policies all Western nations engage in stand threatened by a Grexit. This means the livelihoods of more than the Greek people are at stake.

Whether the people of America will see the writing on the wall before the United States’ creditors come knocking remains to be seen.

After having kept a broke financial system working for months, Varoufakis submitted a letter saying that because his attendance at meetings with EU, IMF and ECB financiers had been viewed as objectionable, he is relinquishing his position.

The referendum of 5th July will stay in history as a unique moment when a small European nation rose up against debt-bondage.

Like all struggles for democratic rights, so too this historic rejection of the Eurogroup’s 25th June ultimatum comes with a large price tag attached. It is, therefore, essential that the great capital bestowed upon our government by the splendid NO vote be invested immediately into a YES to a proper resolution – to an agreement that involves debt restructuring, less austerity, redistribution in favour of the needy, and real reforms.

Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners’, for my… ‘absence’ from its meetings; an idea that the Prime Minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement. For this reason I am leaving the Ministry of Finance today.

I consider it my duty to help Alexis Tsipras exploit, as he sees fit, the capital that the Greek people granted us through yesterday’s referendum.

And I shall wear the creditors’ loathing with pride.

We of the Left know how to act collectively with no care for the privileges of office. I shall support fully Prime Minister Tsipras, the new Minister of Finance, and our government.

The superhuman effort to honour the brave people of Greece, and the famous OXI (NO) that they granted to democrats the world over, is just beginning.

]]>http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2015/07/greek-finance-minister-resigns/feed/0Eurogeddon – Greece gives EU the one finger salutehttp://www.conservativedailynews.com/2015/07/eurogeddon-greece-gives-eu-the-one-finger-salute/
http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2015/07/eurogeddon-greece-gives-eu-the-one-finger-salute/#commentsSun, 05 Jul 2015 19:22:29 +0000http://www.conservativedailynews.com/?p=112380The polls are in and Greece’s citizens have decided to reject the austerity measures required by European creditors to secure more credit.

In a sort of nationalistic pride, the ‘no’ vote seems to have won as citizens agreed with Greek Prime Minister Tsipras that EU leaders were acting like terrorists.

Citizens see the austerity measures as blackmail – forcing them to pay higher taxes, get fewer services just to keep their banks working.

The end result of today’s referendum vote is unclear. While EU leaders have warned that a no vote would likely result in the exit of Greece from the EU, Greek leaders see the result as having strengthened their bargaining position in bailout talks.

One way or the other, the no vote points out a striking problem with the European Union. While monetary policy is set from a central EU government, fiscal policy is set by each independent country. The disconnect can lead to exactly the result Greece is experiencing.

With Brussels trying to set Greece’s fiscal policy, it changes the agreement between partner-state and the EU governing body. If Greece had accepted the measures, the EU would effectively be running Greek fiscal policy and monetary policy. It is but one slippery step to having all policy decided by a central government.

With the vote tallied, EU finance ministers aren’t exactly sure what to do next:

There are no plans for an emergency meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Greece on Monday after Greeks voted overwhelmingly to reject the terms of a bailout deal with international creditors, a euro zone official said on Sunday.

Asked whether a meeting of the Eurogroup was planned for Monday, the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters: “No way. [The ministers] would not know what to discuss.”

While the EU leaders don’t know what to discuss, the Greek finance minister does. He has called for an emergency meeting to discuss “liquidity.” That loosely translates to capital controls tightening even further as Reuters reports:

Deputy Finance Minister Nadia Valavani told Alpha TV that, as part of those measures, the government and banks had agreed at the time that people would also not be allowed to withdraw cash from safe deposit boxes.

What happens if Spain, Portugal, France or other financially weak EU nations experience similar fiscal problems?

The issue of debtor/creditor relationships can be extended to the United States. As American debt-to-GDP ratios continue to worsen, how will her creditors change their requirements so that the U.S. can continue spending their money irresponsibly?

Greek polls have closed and the indication from exit polling data is that Greece will thumb its nose at the European Union.

With just 20% of the vote officially tallied, the no’s are leading the yes’s 60% to 40%.

A ‘No’ vote (OXI) means that Greeks refuse the spending cuts and financial restructuring measures required by the nation’s creditors in order to secure more loans. That no also indicates a show of support for the Tsipras government who has been pushing for a ‘no’ result. European leaders have said that a ‘no’ vote could result in Greece exiting the Euro (Grexit.)

A ‘Yes’ vote (NAI) means that Greek’s accept the austerity measures of their financiers. All sorts of government programs will be required to cut spending and taxes will increase substantially. It would have indicated a vote of “no confidence” in Tsipras and likely led to new elections. But, Greece would secure more funding and a secure, for now, place in the European experiment.

]]>http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2015/07/greece-votes/feed/0Germany begs Britain not to leave the European Unionhttp://www.conservativedailynews.com/2015/07/germany-begs-britain-not-to-leave-the-european-union/
http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2015/07/germany-begs-britain-not-to-leave-the-european-union/#commentsSat, 04 Jul 2015 21:29:23 +0000http://www.conservativedailynews.com/?p=112370International finance news has been singularly focused on Greece and its possible exit from the EU, but there is another EU Island nation considering a break from the European Union.

The British Conservative government has found dealing with the EU to be a bureaucratic nightmare and Prime Minister David Cameron has made public comments about his dissatisfaction with it. The Germans are sweating things a bit.

Michael Fuchs, a member of Angela Merkel’s party and deputy chairman of the ruling CDU-CSU coalition, said the British goals of a more efficient single market with less red tape were aligned with Germany’s.

“I want the UK to stay in the EU, and I cannot even imagine an EU without the UK. I don’t want to imagine it,” he said.

Why is Germany suddenly concerned that the United Kingdom might go its own way? Because Prime Minister David Cameron has pushed for a referendum vote to do so:

Mr Fuchs described Brussels as a “huge” bureaucracy that needed to be scaled back. “I fully agree with certain statements of [Prime Minister] David Cameron saying that Brussels need not be such a huge bureaucracy, with so much red tape.

“That’s quite important, I think, and we need Cameron’s help to change it.”

The Conservative Government has pledged to hold a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU by the end of 2017.

Much of this seems to center around Cameron’s push to lower the amount of welfare that the U.K. is required to provide to migrants from other EU countries. The EU rules are so difficult to change that a better deal for Britain is highly-unlikely.

Much like Greece, England has figured out that the only way to get the attention of the European bureaucrats in Brussels is to threaten to leave the EU. Whether it works for either of them, one referendum vote may decide.

Yesterday, Greece defaulted on 1.6billion euros in debt payments owed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and has been stubbornly refusing the demands of European Central Bankers and European Union ministers to structurally reform its economy.

It’s being reported that Tsipras sent a letter to EU ministers giving in to all their demands with just a few “minor” amendments.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras wrote to European leaders and the International Monetary Fund late Tuesday, accepting most of the conditions they had attached to releasing more cash, a European official told CNNMoney.

Accepting “most of the conditions” isn’t the same as being “prepared to accept all bailout conditions” as the Telegraph and Financial Times used in headlines this morning.

Tsipras faces considerable difficulty in his own country as the games of kick-the-can down the road, truth or dare, poker and “Let’s Make a Deal” but without numbers on the doors all fail to convince European and IMF leaders that Greece is serious.

Every move Tsipras has made has been to delay and reduce any re-payments to the IMF and ECB. Not because he doesn’t want to pay them back, but because Greece has no functioning economy and, without structural reforms, will never be able to pay the loans back.

The changes Greece requested are hundreds of millions of Euros apart from the requirements the creditors placed upon them. German Financial Minister Wolfgang Schäuble expressed disdain saying that Greece’s changes “aren’t basis for serious measures”.

This week, Tsipras announced a referendum to allow each and every Greek citizen to vote on whether to accept the bailout conditions from the EU/IMF.

A “no” vote basically ends all discussions with the EU, ECB and IMF and Greece is on its own. Grexit, or the exit of Greece from the EU, is a foregone conclusion.

A “yes” vote means Tsipras gives in to 100% of the conditions of the bailout, implements the required austerity measures and gets billions to fund his broken financial system. It also signals a lack of confidence in his strategy, tactics and ability to lead the government.

A referendum is the purest form of democracy – the people directly voting on policy. But, pure democracy has a problem: mob rule. Mob-rule means that emotions and hysteria take the place of sound leadership. It is the reason that America was founded as a representative Republic, not a democracy. Tsipras may be about to discover that failing at his own hand.

Polls are increasingly turning against the anti-austerity government. As Greeks get a taste of Tsipras brand of economic justice, they are finding out that it doesn’t sound anything like he promised. Empty ATMs, pensioners not getting paid, goods becoming unavailable, vendors only accepting cash and soon – economic collapse.

Greek’s prime minister is simply trying to instill enough faith in his government to survive the referendum he demanded. He needs a “no” to claim victory – although for only a short time.

In a comment to parliament this morning, Tsipras tried to convince the nation that he’s not capitulating. “It is true that we are seeking an honest compromise with our lenders but don’t expect an unconditional agreement from us.”

European leaders have already notified Greece’s prime minister that if he wants to restart the conversation, he needs to cancel this Sunday’s referendum. Otherwise, they’ll have to wait for the result to see where the purely democratic vote takes the small nation.

Shockingly, Obama isn’t serious about the Iran nuclear talks. Today, reports surfaced that Obama has given into Iran’s demands and that the deal can progress even if the Iranians never submit to inspections. Trust, but verify is now trust, and hope. But, we’ve been there already.

Unless you’re in the Foreign Exchange (forex or FX) investing community, you may not be paying attention to the collapse of Greek society. Capital controls, bank runs, money flight, you name it. Greece is in trouble. But have you evaluated America’s similar situation?

Next up, Elon Musk’s SpaceX project has suffered its first cargo loss after several failures in recent months. The video shows a perfect flight, until about the 2:30 mark. It goes so terribly wrong so very fast.

In the wake of the South Carolina shooting by captured psycho Dylann Roof, liberal groups have decided that the Battle Flag of the Northern Virginia Army is to blame. Charlie Daniels makes an intelligent and reasoned argument why they are doing nothing more than making a straw man argument against a piece of cloth. Some are even pointing at the Duke’s of Hazard’s “General Lee” as a new symbol of hate. yeah, a 1969 Dodge Charger with a Virginian Battle Flag painted on it signifies Jim Crow laws and segregation … or something.

]]>http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2015/06/wth-weekly-06-28-15-the-week-in-review/feed/0Greece collapse beginshttp://www.conservativedailynews.com/2015/06/greece-collapse-to-start-monday/
http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2015/06/greece-collapse-to-start-monday/#commentsSun, 28 Jun 2015 23:56:32 +0000http://www.conservativedailynews.com/?p=112159The PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain) have been under scrutiny for months due to their unsupportable mountains of debt in comparison to their incomes – on Monday, Greece may be the first to go down.

Greece said it would temporarily close banks on Monday in a bid to prevent its banking system from collapsing after the European Central Bank moved to cap the amount of emergency loans it provides for the country’s cash-strapped lenders.

The ECB said earlier on Sunday that it wouldn’t increase the lifeline of emergency liquidity that has been sustaining Greece’s banks, even as nervous Greek depositors appeared to withdraw their money at a greater pace over the weekend.

This entire event is due to debt. Just debt. Nothing more than debt. It’s what happens when a nation offers services it cannot possibly pay fore and as Margaret Thatcher put it “eventually runs out of other people’s money.”

The United States should watch what happens to Greece closely as America’s debt-to-GDP is even worse than it looks. Remember that the government decided to include R&D and pension write-downs in GDP just recently. That only makes GDP look better while the government hides how bad American debt really is.

It’s not the real thing anymore. The country of Greece, facing continuing problems learned today that Coca Cola Hellenic will leaving them. This news is particularly devastating as unemployment in Greece jumped over 25% this week.

Coca Cola Hellenic announced it will be shifting its trade listings from Athens to London and moving headquarters to Switzerland. As the largest company in Greece this loss is a further blow to the sinking Greek economy.

From the Economic Times: CCH’s announcement coincided with data that showed Greek unemployment climbing for a 35th consecutive month in July to 25.1 percent from a revised 24.8 percent in June. The jobless rate has more than tripled since the country’s now five-year-old recession began.

Fifty-four percent of Greeks under 24 continue to be jobless fueling more riots as the country struggles to regain its footing.

These types of proclamations do not bode well for Egyptian minorities, which includes members of the Coptic Church community, who make up about 10 per cent of Egypt’s population. Despite Morsi campaign spokesman Gehad el-Haddad’s assurances that Morsi would work to be “president for all Egyptians”, Coptics worry how Morsi’s election might result in a restriction of their personal freedoms.

Regardless of joyous proclamations by Mosi supporters, the newly elected president did not receive enough support to consider his election a mandate. Ahmed Shafik, former prime minister under Hosni Mubarak, received 12.3 million. Morsi picked up 13.2 million votes, giving him about 51 per cent of the vote. A vote as close as this portrays the presence of a divided electorate.

New Democracy (ND) the conservative party edged out the leftist Syriza party, achieving victory in Greece’s parliamentary elections. The winning margin for ND was less than 3 points. In Greece, as in Egypt, the vote was so close it indicates the presence of a divided people.

In France, Socialists won the National Assembly. Final results showed the Socialist Party won 280 seats. Two closely allied parties gained 34 seats, giving the Socialist bloc 314 seats. The leftist Green Party won 17 seats and the far-left Left Front collected 10. The Socialist Party now enjoys a lock on French politics.

Newly elected President Hollande’s domestic mandate will allow him push back on budget cuts being demanded by Germany. Greece and other indebted countries say budget cuts are deepening the Eurozone’s recession by suffocating growth. Clearly, there is division within the European Union.

Meanwhile in the United States, largely ignoring the historical lessons of American economic success, obama continues to call for bottom up economics. This not so newly minted campaign tact is but one element of his overall class warfare election strategy.

Desperate for cash to combat GOP candidate Mitt Romney’s growing money juggernaut, obama’s campaign is asking his supporters to tell wedding guests to donate to his campaign rather than give gifts to the newlyweds. The campaign is also turning to overseas American ex-patriots, seeking cash.

There is a new strategy to inflate the economy on obama’s behalf by Ben Bernanke at the Federal Reserve Bank. obama and other Democrats are coordinating attacks on Romney with the American media, which completely flies in the face of a free press dutifully reporting facts to the electorate so as to facilitate voters being equipped with the knowledge necessary to make informed political decisions.

Bill Maher, $1 million obama campaign donor and known airwaves extremist, continued to spew hollow, hateful, leftist fringe rhetoric by spouting: Conservatism is not an ideology, ‘It’s just about being a dick’. Joy Behar, one of Maher’s many fellow “progressive” extremists who populate Hollywood, felt compelled to chime in with “Gay Conservatives only think with their penises”.

Whatever happened to the angst, dismay and regret over harsh partisan rhetoric, so in vogue among “progressives” in the aftermath of the Gabby Gifford shooting?

In light of the Tea Party led midterm election landslide in 2010 and the Tea Party fed Scott Walker victory in Wisconsin’s recall election, it is quite appropriate to observe that, like much of the world, the population of United States is divided.

The division in America is distinctly between those who wish to “fundamentally transform the United States of America” and those who wish to restore the country to its Constitutional roots.

The Constitution established a small government featuring division of powers, protection of individual liberties and fostering a free market economic system uninhibited by the shackles of an overbearing central government. Since the early 20th Century “progressive” politicians have incrementally increased prohibitive regulatory controls while intruding upon individual liberties by imposing “progressive” taxation used to fuel the growth of big government ”entitlement” programs and bloated federal bureaucracies that far exceed the powers delineated to the federal government by the United States Constitution.

As they participate in Chapter 2012 of the age old power struggle between tyranny and freedom, the choice is clear for American voters. To further enable unconstitutional usurpation of powers by disciples of Marx and Alinsky wishing to dismantle and eliminate the fundamental political, and socioeconomic structure of the United States, or to elect representatives who will insist upon restoring the Constitutional Republic envisioned by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin and America’s founding patriots.

]]>http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2012/06/the-age-old-power-struggle-chapter-2012/feed/0Fundraise and Fore! obama’s Answer to World Eventshttp://www.conservativedailynews.com/2012/06/fundraise-and-fore-obamas-answer-to-world-events/
http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2012/06/fundraise-and-fore-obamas-answer-to-world-events/#commentsMon, 18 Jun 2012 22:43:39 +0000http://www.conservativedailynews.com/?p=57668Israel issued warnings over security problems with Egypt. Militants from the Sinai Peninsula crossed over into southern Israel Monday and fired on a border security fence, killing one Israeli. The IDF moved tanks and other armed forces to the Israel-Egypt border in response to the attack. Egypt is on the offensive against Israel.

Egypt’s presidential election results lean towards victory for Mohammed Morsi, the radical Islamist Muslim Brotherhood candidate. Thanks at least in part to vocal White House support for the “Arab Spring”, which ushered the Muslim Brotherhood to Egypt’s presidency, Egypt is now likely to be more inclined towards acting offensively towards Israel.

Russia’s General Staff announced Russian Black Sea fleet warships may head for Syria, saying: “The Mediterranean Sea is a zone of the Black Sea Fleet responsibility. Hence, warships may go there in the case it is necessary to protect the Russian logistics base in Tartous, Syria”. Several warships, including large landing ships are ready for deployment. Russia supports Syria, an active agent for radical Ismanists in Iran, who also just happen to support the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Russia exerts new influence in the Middle East while Russia’s President Vladimir Putin plays the White House like a fiddle.

The Euro survived over the weekend after a close call in Greek elections. Early market euphoria on Monday diminished when persistent uncertainty over the situation in Spain, Italy and other eurozone countries resurfaced. Despite Greece’s election result easing fears that the single currency will disintegrate, indications that Greece will run out of money in mid-July stalled initial market optimism. Multiple countries in Europe are now in economic decline after decades of following Socialist policies.

In France, Socialist President Francois Hollande was given a mandate to follow through with his tax-and-spend agenda when France’s Socialists won control of parliament on Sunday. Hollande now has the majority he needs to combat France’s debt crisis by following the very formula that created a debt crisis in France, Greece, Spain, Italy and the rest of the eurozone.

Meanwhile, in an address to the UN sustainability conference in Rio, Great Britain’s Prince Charles issued warnings about climate change. In a pre-recorded speech the Prince declared: “Catastrophic consequences of carrying on with ‘business-as-usual’ are bearing down on us faster than we think, already dragging many millions more people into poverty and dangerously weakening global food, water and energy security for the future”. The Prince then went on to say: “We do not have nearly enough knowledge on which to base the decisions that will be the best for the long term.” So, which is it? Either “we do not have nearly enough knowledge on which to base the decisions that will be the best for the long term” or we know enough to say “many millions more people” have to worry about poverty, food, water and energy security. You can’t have it both ways, “your majesty”.

In America, Al Gore cashed in on the hysteria he and his fellow climate change propagandists created when New York city Comptroller John Liu OK’d a $16.56 million contract with Generation Investment Management, the former vice president’s environmentally friendly investment firm. Generation Investment Management will help manage New York City pension funds to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. Given the track record of green energy capital investments, New York City pension funds are going to be another candidate for a taxpayer funded federal bailout. As with any investment management company, Generation Investment Management will earn their fees no matter what happens to the funds they invest. Apparently it pays to be a global warming alarmist. Perhaps Prince Charles fears the British Monarchy faces pending austerity measures and is just trying to get on the global warming gravy train.

Over the past three and a half years while current world events were taking shape, the White House has been spending money it does not have ala Socialist Europe. All the while enacting another big government socialist “entitlement” program to “nudge” Americans towards European style government dependency.

They championed bureaucratic violations of the free exercise of religion, using the presidential bully pulpit and complicit media lapdogs to convince uninformed voters that it was really a Republican attack on women’s healthcare.

Drones and unmanned airplanes began spying on private property in America’s heartland to ensure American Citizens are complicit with stifling new draconian EPA regulations. An EPA that is now attempting to redefine ditches as bodies of water in order to grant itself additional regulatory power.

Exceeding the Oval Office’s Constitutional and statutory authority to give work visas to a hand picked group of illegal aliens was deemed more important than creating a business friendly, jobs creating economic environment for American Citizens and legal immigrants.

This coming from an administration that pledged in 2008 that it would cut the federal deficit in half by the end of its first term. Instead, the size of the federal government, federal spending and the deficit are all at record high levels. The U.S. national debt has increased by over $5 trillion in less than four years, and after surviving WWI, the Great Depression, WWII, the economic disaster that was Jimmy Carter’s presidency and the global financial crash of 2008, the United States of America’s credit rating has been downgraded.

Insinuating his name into the online biographies of former Presidents and releasing a photo-montage of himself in his “private moments” became priorities, as did attending a record number of fund raising events and playing 100 rounds (and counting) of golf. Never mind that David Axelrod, his 2012 re-election campaign chief, called former President George W. Bush “out of touch” for playing golf while the country struggled with a bad economy.

That’s what his deep-pocketed out of touch with reality millionaire and billionaire Hollywood elite friends expect from their “cool” friend in the White House. To be truly “cool”, one must be seen as being above it all.

America and the world will be better off once the current Chief Executive of the United States begins spending his days playing golf full time as a former government employee.